A Love Story that Turned Ugly

Chapter 20

        Mom said, back in Junior High, Bradley had been an antisocial, frail kid. Nobody had wanted to be his friend. Only mom who had been nice to him. They had become good friends. But then, as they entered Senior High, mom had been too busy with her new friends that she had abandoned him for a long time. One day he had confessed to mom that he liked her, but she had turned him down because she had already had a boyfriend, which was my current daddy. Everything was okay, and he moved on.

       "Is that all?" I asked, frowning. Mom nodded firmly. Her story was too 'innocent'; it didn't help me to figure out about Bradley's strange behavior. Maybe it had nothing to do with his high school life. But I was still curious about his amazing transformation from an ugly boy to a gorgeous guy. Had he done some massive plastic surgery?

       "Boring," whined Abigail in disappointment. She decided to rummage through the cupboard again, hoping to find anything more interesting. I didn't ask further, because so far mom didn't know I was dating her old friend. Remember, mom should not know.

       Okay, for now I thought it'd better for me just to act usual towards him, while on the other hand I was trying to solve this mystery. I had to try not to make him feel suspicious, I thought. The next day I met him for lunch, and acted as cheerfully as I could. I even apologized for not calling him yesterday.

        "Oh, I have to go back to work," he informed, looking at the leather watch which was circling around his wrist. His plate was still full of mashed potatoes. I just realized that he had eaten so little today.

       "You okay?" I inquired sympathetically, putting my palm on his forehead, which was sweaty but cold. He looked happy with my attention, and smiled.

       "I'm fine, thank you."

       He removed my hand and gripped it, his eyes staring at me with so much love. Three seconds later, his expression changed dramatically.

       "You don't wear the bracelet I gave you," he said coldly.

       "Uh, yes..."

       "Don't you like it?" He raised his voice. Suddenly he became so scary. He looked at me as if I had done something really bad. What was with his temper?

       "I'm sorry. I didn't mean that," he said softly as he saw me frightened. He put his point finger on my lips, moving down slowly, touching my cheek and twisting my hair, as if I was a doll. I was trembling, chill running through my spine. He was so weird and it freaked me out.

       Thank God it was over quickly. He went back to his office and I ran hurriedly into the DVD store, the place where I had an appointment with Nick Reed. When I arrived, Nick was leaning on the brick wall, drinking a bottle of soda. He smiled as he saw me walking towards him.

       "Hi, sorry I'm late," I said, panting heavily.

       "Relax, it's okay." He grinned, quaffing the content of the soda. "I don't have much time, so let's go," he said, leading me to his car which was parked across the street. The strong scent of masculine perfume wafted from his sport jacket. He smelled good.

       I put my seat belt on and he turned on the machine. We were going to Tamara Northman's house, in order to get some information about Bradley Collins. I had asked Nick to look for her address. She lived near a beach and ran a seafood restaurant there. Nick didn't have any difficulties to find the house, because he had ever visited her once. Half an hour later, we arrived.

       "Okay, we're here," he said as we arrived in front of a small but beautiful cottage. It was deserted. All I could hear were the sound of waves and birds chirping. No sign of human lived there. The grasses had grown wild. The owner of this house must have been very busy to mow the lawn, I thought. I swallowed hard and knockedthe door.

       "Hello! Is anybody home?" Nick shouted. No answer. I knocked again. Still silence.

       "Maybe she's still at work," I said finally. Nick shrugged.

       "Let's just take a walk on the beach till she come back," he suggested.

       "Good idea." I agreed.

       We were about to walk away when the door slowly opened. A woman stood behind the door, staring at us hesitantly.

       "Can I help you?" she asked, stepping forward until I could see her entire figure. She was clearly Tamara I'd seen in the cafe, and she was also the woman on the photo. She was wearing a sunny dress and flip flops. She looked rather pale.

       "Hi, Tamara." Nick waved at her, grinning. Tamara's eyes widened, excited to see him.

       "Nick! Oh my God, long time no see." She gave him a friendly hug, tightly.

       "What brings you here?"

       "Well, actually my friend here is the one who wants to meet you," said Nick, motioning at me with his head. Tamara turned to me, checking me out carefully.

       "Do I know you?"

       "We’ve ever met once, but surely you have forgotten. Uh, Tamara. I want to ask something about Bradley Collins," I said, right to the point. She frowned, showing her dislike.

       "And who are you and what's your business with him?" she asked. She didn't look friendly anymore. I cleared my throat.

      "His girlfriend," I said quietly.

       Tamara's mouth gaped. She stared at me, as if she had just heard a bad news telling her about family’s death.

       "What? He has a wife and playing around with a young girl? Fantastic,” she sneered.

       "Did you just say wife?" I asked in a high pitch. Nick, who realized that the atmosphere around us was turning bad, tried to chill us out.

       "Okay, let's just calm down and find a more comfortable place to talk," he said. Tamara looked at him for a second, and then pulled the door knob.

       "Come on in. Let's have some tea."